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Friday, May 11, 2007

Catching up

Well, let's get right down to business, shall we? That's me (um, obviously) leading at McMahan two weeks ago. It was a good convention; smaller than it's been in the past, but a good sound even without all the visitors. It was held a month earlier than last year, so all the wildflowers were still out and the ride out there was delightful. More pictures here in case you're interested. No Eric or Jenna, but plenty of Owens to fill the void. Plus a few Lees.

Unrelatedly, I recently received an email from our dear friend Rebecca which contained the following, in reference to reading the blog of someone else who lives in Austin: "First the tornado warnings. Then the lightning storms. Now she mentions wanting to crank the AC. WHAT KIND OF HELL HOLE DO YOU LIVE IN???" Honestly, I couldn't have put it better myself. I've been sparing you all descriptions because, come on now, who wants to read about the weather where someone else lives? (Not that that stopped me when we lived in Juneau or - let's be honest - throughout most of 2006.) But yeah, it's been a bit of a crazy spring. It's done nothing but rain, which has made for gorgeous flowers everywhere and, all things considered, it hasn't ever gotten too hot for an extended period of time. Unless you consider Austin in general too hot. Which we do. But for the purposes of this blog, it's been a weird but acceptable spring.

I'd like to take a moment to intimidate you all by informing you that I've recently started taking KARATE so don't make me angry or I might have to do something drastic like forward-kick a giant foam cube across a big blue mat. Seriously, though, once I actually stop sucking I'll be a force to be reckoned with. It's a women-only class (and mostly-women studio) which I appreciate, and everyone there is ridiculously nice. And I love my shiny new white belt; no matter what you do, everyone just tells you how well you're doing and to keep on trying, you'll get it someday.

I figured it was also high time for a belated shot of me with some of my preschool kiddos. That's me with a popsicle and some five-year-olds on my last day as a two-job woman. (Bonus: Find the twins! Good old upper-income-bracket professional moms in need of a little IVF aid to have kids... out of two classes with thirty or so children altogether, we had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR sets of fraternal twins!) I thoughtfully cropped out the impossible boys off to the right who were horsing around and making ugly faces every time we turned the camera on them... just look at all those docile, well-behaved girls! I'm such a good teacher.

Okay, less chat, more boot-buying. I'm off to get myself some two-steppin' footwear... in the meantime, leave lots of comments so I have incentive to post more frequently than twice a month!

The twinning rate in the United States has increased significantly since 1975, about the time assisted reproductive technologies (ART) were introduced. The intentional delay of childbearing has also contributed to the increase of multiple-birth pregnancies, since older women are more likely to have twins even without ART.

"The continuing increase in the twinning rate into the 1990's, however, may also be a consequence of the introduction of growth-hormone treatment of cows to enhance their milk and beef production," said Dr. Steinman.

In the current study, when Dr. Steinman compared the twinning rates of women who ate a regular diet, vegetarian diet with dairy, and vegan diet, he found that the vegan women had twins at only one-fifth the rate of women who commonly do not exclude milk from their diet.

i am trying to decide if i was more puzzled by alexa's curly hair or the fact that one of eric's nieces has breasts. good god. also, cuteness overload of pink, stripey dresses. i miss you! give rich a big hug for me.